Chapter 217: An Army

William stared into the distance, his eyes filled with shock as goosebumps rose all over his body.

Rumble!

The rumbling sound resounded from the distance as a giant army of Night Crawlers moved forward, destroying everything that came into their path.

"There are at least five thousand of them..." William tried to suppress the shock in his heart as he analyzed the situation.

SHRIEK! ROAR! GROWL!

Different sounds of roars, shrieks, and growls that made William’s ears buzz reached him, forcing him to cover his ears with his hands.

Other than the lizard-like Crawlers with goat heads, there were many other different types of Crawlers as well in the army.

At the back of the army, there were hundreds of tens-of-meters-tall black elephant-like Crawlers, with sharp bone spikes protruding from their bodies. Atop these elephant-like Crawlers, some humanoid monsters were sitting.

The humanoid monsters had mouths filled with jagged teeth and pointed heads, their glowing orange eyes looking extremely eerie amid the night.

Other than them, some wyvern-like black monsters were flying above the vast army, moving along with them.

’What the fuck is going on here?’ William couldn’t help but shout inwardly, trying his best to hide his aura and keep himself hidden behind a tall boulder.

He was sure that if he were to get noticed by this giant army of Crawlers, he would have no choice but to escape inside the Time Chamber to save himself.

Not to mention those thousands of lizard-like Crawlers running in front, the elephant and humanoid Crawlers at the back gave him an extremely dangerous feeling.

He recalled the two notifications he had received when he had landed at the village.

(The Night Has Fallen.)

(Night Crawlers will Begin to Move Soon...)

’So the Night Crawlers they were talking about were this kind of giant army, not the small group I had killed earlier.’

William glanced at the Crawler whom he had turned into a slave earlier and even had a feeling that this guy was also part of this army.

But it had diverted from its way slightly and come here to mess with him, leaving behind its position.

’Are these Night Crawlers just moving randomly in this wasteland, or are they going to a specific place?’

William frowned as he stared at the marching army.

Just then, he noticed the direction they were marching in, and his expression couldn’t help but change.

He recalled the contents of the stone map he had memorized, and his heart sank slightly.

’This direction... It’s exactly the direction of Varhan City.’

William clenched his fist and couldn’t help but gulp.

’Don’t tell me this trial wants me to go to Varhan City because it wants me to defend the city against this giant army.’

For a moment, William just wanted to curse the bastard who was responsible for sending him to this damn place.

Taking a deep breath to suppress his unease, William looked at the rapidly moving army.

’Maybe I am thinking too much. There is no way I would receive a trial of defeating such a big army on my own.’

William analyzed the situation from a rational perspective and soon came up with another guess.

’I think the trial wants me to go to Varhan City so I can warn them about this upcoming army?’

As this guess came into his mind, his status window flickered, and his trial once again updated.

---) Complete the Following Trials to leave Trial Realm...

Reach Varhan City before the Crawler Army. If you fail to reach the City before the army, your Trial will be deemed a failure.

???

"This motherfucker..." William couldn’t help but swear when he saw his updated trial.

’This Trial thing is really unreliable. If I had moved away from here right after finding that map, wouldn’t I have missed this army? And if I had missed this army, I wouldn’t have known I needed to reach Varhan City before them.’

After seeing his trial update in real time, William realized the fact that he couldn’t fully trust the trial that showed on his status window.

He needed to figure out everything about the situation on his own, and this trial would update based on that situation.

’This makes things even more difficult for me. Now, if I directly rush toward Varhan City without doing anything else, who can say that I wouldn’t miss something that might update my trial again?’

William rubbed his face as he watched the army move far away from him.

Because he was a considerable distance away and the Crawlers seemed to be in a hurry, no one came to investigate this abandoned village, saving William from the trouble of running away or hiding.

A few minutes after the army disappeared from his view, William’s mind gradually calmed down, but his face still wore a heavy look.

"Things are not looking good..." He muttered under his breath and raised his head to look at the sky.

But what came into his view was just endless darkness, with not even a speck of light visible.

Looking at the darkness, a sense of helplessness couldn’t help but rise in his heart, and his eyes became somewhat hazy.

"Maybe I should just give up and stop struggling..." He muttered in a low voice.

Just then, the Heart Break Pendant he was wearing glowed slightly, and his hazy mind instantly cleared up.

William returned to his senses, and a look of fear couldn’t help but appear on his face.

"This place..." He looked at the darkness around him with a shocked look. "This place is actually even affecting my mind and soul."

William grabbed the Heart Break Pendant around his neck and felt fortunate that he had returned to his senses in time.

If he had sunk into despair and lost hope just now, he did not know why, but he felt something terrible would have happened to him.

"Hooo..." William exhaled a breath of air, and his eyes turned sharp.

"I need to be careful and not let my mind get distracted in the future..." He muttered and was about to sit down to rest when suddenly, he heard a rustling sound and immediately turned his head.

As he turned his head, a look of surprise appeared on his face as he saw the young girl he had found earlier was waking up.